“We will not stop until the Bible enters Parliament”

The same space, Nuno Pereira referred to the use of evangelicals’ communication channels to defend the ADN vote, a fact that is easy to prove on social media. Youtube was one of the main platforms where the “dissemination of the word of God” was mixed with the call to vote. The TV Lusitana channel, directed by Paulo Nunes himself, was widely used to transmit the party message, with a direct request to vote for ADN. The campaign was called “Come with me”, asking to “borrow” from Brazil the term “evangelical bench”, which brings together elected pastors and parliamentarians. Some of them actively participated in the ADN campaign, such as Marco Feliciano, fourth-term federal deputy and an early ally of former president Bolsonaro.

In his CV, the evangelical, founder of the Assembly of God Revival Cathedral Ministry, has the statement that “gays are not human”. For this statement, he faces a lawsuit for the crime of discrimination. In a video sent to support ADN, the deputy, calling himself “Jair Bolsonaro’s spokesperson”, appeals to the “vote of Catholic and evangelical Christians”. In return, the party declared support for the demonstration, organized by Silas Malafaia, in favor of Bolsonaro in São Paulo.

Social networks are one of the bibles of evangelicals, who, literally, do not put their cell phones down during services. The DN attested during the Malafaia celebrations that photos and videos were posted on social media in real time by the faithful. Churches have professional teams and state-of-the-art equipment such as video cameras, cell phones and microphones. Everything is broadcast live and published in different formats, with design work and subtitles.

“There is a lot of money, use of the latest technology, professional marketing departments to create strategies to disseminate the message”, comments researcher Donizete Rodrigues. ADVEC, for example, has, if all profiles are added together, at least half a million followers on Instagram, while leader Malafaia has over four million.

Added to these numbers are the profiles of pastors, who are encouraged to use social media to spread their political message. Both on the internet and in the pulpits, in addition to the religious message, political-partisan words are preached. “Leaders express support for a certain party and/or candidate, who may or may not be a member of their own congregation, and even directly ask for a vote”, states Rodrigues.

In the profiles of some of the pastors based in Portugal there is express support for the Chega party and other leaders of the global far right, such as the Argentine Javier Milei, the American Donald Trump and the entire Bolsonaro clan, from his children to his wife Michele Bolsonaro (in this especially by pastors’ wives).

The former Brazilian president supported André Ventura and vice versa: “It’s the right, conservatism, good people. [André Ventura] is on the side of good,” Bolsonaro proclaimed in a video. The leaders also have in common the fascist-inspired motto (it was used by Mussolini in Italy) later adopted by the Portuguese dictator Salazar: “God, Country and Family”. In Portugal, Ventura added “work”; in Brazil, the addition was the word “freedom”.

The transatlantic and international relations of the extreme right, already
revealed by DN, are also part of the religious agenda. In January of this year, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the former Brazilian president, participated in a seminar with Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro and Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, both Chega deputies, as well as other representatives of conservatism. The location chosen to host the event? “Sara”, an evangelical church of Brazilian origin, with European headquarters in Amadora.

The church’s chief pastor mediated the conversation and called on participants to vote in the elections, in clear support for Chega. “There are many Brazilians who can vote here in Portugal, this fight is not just for the Portuguese, it is the fight of evil against good. We have to win in the ideological field, in the cultural field and in politics too, mainly”, he stated, to applause.

Donizete Rodrigues calls this practice “staff voting”, in reference to the biblical character Moses: “When a pastor asks for a vote for that specific candidate, if there are 100 people in the room who are voters, we can say that almost 100% will follow. the guidance of the pastor.”